Tech & Innovation in Healthcare

Question: How successful has telehealth use been during and following the COVID-19 pandemic?

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Answer: Recently, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine researchers examined telehealth use across medical specialties and disparities related to the technology, publishing their results in npj Digital Medicine in August 2024. The researchers gathered electronic health record (EHR) data from Illinois hospitals to perform a retrospective analysis of data from Jan. 1, 2021 to July 1, 2022. This time period was referred to as the “sustained pandemic phase.”

In a sample size of 444,752 adults and 1.97 million outpatient visits, Northwestern researchers found that telehealth accounted for 10.28 percent of visits and 4.27 percent of no-shows. Certain specialties used telehealth more than others with mental health, endocrinology, and genetics specialties accounting for 19.8 to 64.5 percent of total completed visits. Simultaneously, the no-show odds also varied by specialty. Mental health saw higher no-show odds than primary care, but telehealth use didn’t lower the odds that much.

Researchers also found that Hispanic and Black patients, as well as Medicaid patients, whether using telehealth or attending in-person visits, had higher no-show odds when compared to white counterparts.

“As we move beyond the pandemic, our findings can inform policymakers to tailor policies and incentives to reach different patient groups as well as specialties, with varying needs, to promote equitable telehealth utilization,” the Northwestern researchers wrote in their study.